'The Big Bang Theory' star says stop calling women "girls"

goss
27/03/2017

Actress Mayim Bialik has gone to social media to ask followers to stop referring to women as "girls".

In a video that's been shared around the world, the 'The Big Bang Theory' and former 'Blossom' actress spoke direct to camera about how she overheard some male friends refer to a woman nearby as a "girl."

"I start looking around, wondering why they would let a child into the bar," she jokes.

"Then I realised that when he said 'girl', he meant 'woman'. But, because she's in that super narrow age range between five years old and 55 years old, we just don't know what to call her. So we call her a 'girl'."

The actress and neuroscientist went on to explain why the "language matters".

"When we use words to describe adult women that are typically used to describe children, it changes the way we view women, even unconsciously, so that we don't equate them with adult men," she says.

"In fact, it implies that they're inferior to men."

The terms we're using for women are outdated and insensitive - and they assume a structure of power when men are on the top, and women are on the bottom.

"This kind of thinking has persisted far longer than it should have, and we know better now.

She concluded her video with a unifying message to everyone, saying: "It's up to us to change this narrative.

"The thing we need to start doing as women is to consistently, gently and politely correct people when they call women 'girls'."

The video has been viewed more than 6 million times on her Facebook page.